Developing professional skills in journalism through blogs

Abstract

The curriculum for journalism is being forced to change because the traditional print-based and broadcast modes are being challenged by wide and easy access to online mass communication. Primarily, students need to develop proficiency in writing, editing and publishing. However, they are also expected to be skilled in the Web medium as they venture into their careers, and weblogs offer a dynamic platform to develop these skills. Based on a statistical summary of student comments on the performance criteria for a blog project, a focus group interview and survey results, this paper will discuss the findings from the introduction of a course-based blog to an undergraduate course in Hong Kong, including: (1) the technical challenge of making Web features; (2) the perception of proficiency in online publishing; (3) the evaluative skills developed through a peer-review process; and (4) the development of a learning community through writing in blogs. (Contains 3 tables and 2 figures.)